Galion man waives right to speedy trial on rape charge

BUCYRUS – Maximino Hernandez, a Galion man accused of rape, has been in the Crawford County Jail since May 18 waiting for his case to be processed in the courts. On Wednesday, he was granted a motion filed by his attorney to wait some more.

Hernandez, through an interpreter, waived his right to a speedy trial before Judge Sean Leuthold in Crawford County Common Pleas Court, allowing the state to take more than 90 days to bring the case before a jury.

His attorney, Adam Stone, told the judge he sought the waiver to allow for “as much discovery and evidence gathering as possible, as well as ongoing plea negotiations with the state.”

Hernandez, a Hispanic immigrant who does not have legal status in the U.S., according to his previous attorney, is accused of committing rape, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, on May 18 while working as a dishwasher at a Galion restaurant, El Tarasco.

Although Hernandez has no prior record of this kind of offense in the U.S., his bond was set in May at $500,000 since he’s been in this country for less than a year.

Also Wednesday, the judge sentenced Brooke L. Weickum, 22, to three consecutive 12-month prison sentences for drug possession, all fifth-degree felonies, after she pleaded guilty to the charges. The case stemmed from a police raid of a house in June at 904 Dales Place in Crestline.

Also arrested in that raid was Angela L. Carroll, 47, who was charged with drug possession. Her case remains on the Common Pleas Court docket.

“I’ve said this a million times, it seems like, but this is the wrong county to do drugs,” Leuthold told Weickum.

Finally, Leuthold agreed Wednesday to consolidate the cases of April Dyer, 31; Gary Poth, 32; and Joshua Keith, 37. The three were arrested in June following a raid on a house at 902 Maple St. in Bucyrus. Dyer and Poth are of that address and Keith is a Galion resident.

The trio has been charged with counts of possession of “blue drop” heroin, which resulted in several overdoses and a handful of deaths in Marion earlier this summer, trafficking in the drug and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, and bond was earlier set at $1 million for each of them.

The judge on Wednesday scheduled a motion to suppress evidence in the case — five hours of audio statements the defendants made to police — for Aug. 28, and set a trial date of Sept. 24.